


In Peril

by purewanderlust



Series: Interaction 'Verse [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Slash, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-14
Updated: 2013-06-14
Packaged: 2017-12-15 00:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purewanderlust/pseuds/purewanderlust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard felt like he should’ve sensed it coming, like a person could sense eyes watching them across the room. His esper scores were abysmally low, but it didn’t stop him from feeling like he should’ve seen disaster looming on the horizon.</p><p>Jim gets injured on an away mission...it turns out Bones is the one who needs reassurance this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Peril

Leonard felt like he should’ve sensed it coming, like a person could sense eyes watching them across the room. His esper scores were abysmally low, but it didn’t stop him from feeling like he should’ve seen disaster looming on the horizon. He should have _known._ But he hadn’t, and now...

Things had been quiet for the last few weeks. If McCoy were given to cliche--and being Southern, he was--he might even say it had been too quiet. Mostly they’d been star-mapping, floating through an empty and mostly unexplored area of space, and sickbay was actually the busiest place on the ship. Even there, though, it was just routine burns and bruises. No new diseases, or life-saving surgeries and even Leonard could admit that he was a little bored. 

On the other hand, the respite seemed to be just what Jim had needed. He was eating more regularly and sleeping through the night at least twice a week. Despite the reversion to their Academy days in terms of sleeping arrangements, McCoy considered it a marked improvement. When, three weeks out from the interrogation, Jim said something suggestive to Uhura after months without a crass comment, Leonard felt a small, bizarre surge of triumph. Even Nyota looked pleasantly surprised, as much as she tried to hide it. 

But once Kirk started feeling like himself again, he started to get bored. Which is how the Enterprise found herself in orbit around a mysterious Class-M planet that wasn’t on any of their charts. 

“C’mon, Spock, we’re an exploratory crew,” Jim pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean we should beam down and, I don’t know, explore?”

“While typically I would agree with you, Captain, I do not think it wise in this situation.” Spock countered levelly. “This planet it does not appear on any of our charts and thusly--”

“Blah, blah, unnecessary danger, blah.” Jim cut him off, “So we do a scan of the planet before we beam down, make sure there are no dangerous life-forms to contend with, and take a couple security crew with us.” 

Spock hesitated for a moment and Leonard took the opportunity to speak up. “You’ll recall when you were marooned on Delta Vega that the computer said there were no life-forms on the planet’s surface, and yet you managed to nearly get eaten by not one, but _two_ separate ice monsters. The computer is fallible.” 

The look Jim gave him was one of complete betrayal. “Bones!”

“The Doctor is correct, Captain,” Spock said, the tips of his ears turning suspiciously green, “I calculate the risks to outweigh the--”

“I am _dying_ of boredom, Spock.” Jim said, not noticing McCoy’s automatic flinch. “I’m sure we’ve faced worse than what may or may not be on that planet’s surface and as our mission is to explore and record our findings, it is our duty to check this out. We’re beaming down.” 

Spock inclined his head. “Very well. Allow me to put together a landing party.”

“No need, you and I will go and we’ll take an ensign from security.” The captain glanced over at McCoy, who was doing his best to radiate disapproval. “Bones, you wanna come?” 

“No, I absolutely do not. You know I detest that transporter pad.” 

Kirk shrugged, letting the CMOs sour attitude roll off him like water off a duck’s back. “Suit yourself. We’ll take Christine then. Logical to have a medical officer along, isn’t it?” He glanced at Spock, smirking. Leonard thought about slapping the smirk off his face, and then about kissing it off. Both ideas were equally appealing, as was usually the case with Jim.

“I will inform the security officers and Nurse Chapel, Captain,” Spock answered evenly, but Leonard was pretty sure he was sensing irritation from the Vulcan. “We can be ready to beam down in approximately ten minutes.” He swept out of the ready room, leaving Kirk and McCoy alone.

“I swear to God, Jim, you’d better be careful down there or you’re getting weekly physicals for the next year.” Leonard growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jim grinned at him. “We’ll be fine, Bones! There’s nothing down there. Besides, if I have to endure one more day of star mapping without any sort of break, I’m going to die.” 

The doctor scowled at him. “Do you mind not making jokes about dying?” he said sharply and regret flashed briefly across the captain’s face. “If you get so much as a scratch, I’ll kill you myself.” 

“No, you won’t,” Jim said, confident. “You would never hurt me.” It was meant as a lighthearted jab, but Kirk’s voice went deep and oddly serious at the end. Leonard felt blood rushing to his face and turned away. There was a long moment of silence and then he felt Jim take a step towards him. “Bones...”

“ _Captain?_ ” Uhura’s voice crackled over the intercom abruptly and Leonard jumped. “ _The landing party is congregated in the transporter room; they’re waiting on you._ ”

“Acknowledged,” Jim answered distractedly. “I’m headed that way. Kirk out.” He reached out and grabbed McCoy’s shoulder and spun him around.

“You’d better hurry up and get down there before Spock changes his mind.” Leonard blurted before his friend could say anything. Jim’s brow furrowed, but he nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’ll be here when I get back, right Bones?” There was some uncertainty in Jim’s voice and Leonard knew he was asking if they were okay. He huffed and shook his head, plastering on the best glare he could manage.

“I’ll always be here. Now get moving before that Vulcan comes looking for someone to blame for your tardiness.” 

Jim graced him with a relieved smile and vanished through the door, leaving McCoy standing alone in the middle of the captain’s ready room. If Leonard had known what would happen down on the planet’s surface, he would’ve never let the conversation end that way. Hindsight was a bitch.

*

“ _Doctor McCoy, please report to the transporter room, the landing party requires medical assistance._ ” Uhura’s voice cut through the silence in Leonard’s office. 

“What?” He barked, already up out of his chair. “What happened?”

“ _I don’t know, I just--_ ” Uhura answered, sounding strained, but Leonard didn’t stick around to hear the rest, grabbing his tricorder, and taking off at a sprint down the corridor. His heart was rabbiting in his throat and even though he hated himself for it, he wished as hard as he could that he would arrive to find someone else--anyone else injured. 

But of course it was Jim. It was always Jim. He seemed to be still conscious, if barely, Spock carrying him, bridal style, with a grim look on his face. It would’ve been funny if it weren’t for all the blood. 

“What happened?” McCoy snapped, flipping on his tricorder and running it over Jim’s body.

“S’not my fault.” Jim slurred, flopping his head sideways to look at the doctor. “Jerry...”

Out of the corner of his eye, Leonard saw a red-shirted ensign clutching a bloodied arm to his chest, a stricken look on his face. 

“Our readings of the planet’s surface did not take into account the hostile alien species that was living below the surface,” Spock said placidly. McCoy had to bite his tongue to hold back the _I told you so_. “They attacked Ensign Rizzo and if not for the captain’s interference, likely would have killed him.”

“You shoulda seen their claws, Bones!” Jim mumbled, “Had to be like eight inches long.” 

“For Godssakes, Jim, just shut up.”

“I think he might kill me before the blood loss does,” Jim stage-whispered conspiratorially to Spock, and then abruptly passed out. 

“Dammit. Spock, take him down to medbay, I’ll be right behind you.” As Spock turned to follow his instructions, McCoy rounded on the security officer. “You too, Rizzo, that’s a nasty looking gash you’ve got there.”

“I--I’m sorry,” Rizzo stammered, looking mortified. “This is all my fault, if I’d just been faster--”

“Jerry.” McCoy cut him off, “It’s not your fault. It’s that damn fool of a captain, could manage to injure himself opening a door. Now to sickbay with you.”

“Yessir.” Rizzo answered. He practically ran out the door, leaving a small trail of blood drops behind him. Leonard shook his head, took a moment to compose himself, and followed. 

Of course, nothing could ever be simple, not when Jim was involved. It turned out the creatures’ claws were coated in a nasty venom. For a couple of hours, it was a little touch-and-go, but both Kirk and Rizzo would be fine. 

Leonard had been forced to put the captain into a medically induced coma to slow the spread of the poison, and he hadn’t left Jim’s bedside in the forty-eight hours since. Christine had tried to get him to go rest several times, with no success. It was all far too much like the radiation poisoning and Khan. Jim was so pale and so damn still. He might as well have been dead, but for the quiet beeps of the machine monitoring him. 

“You ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll kill you myself.” He grumbled to his friend’s unconscious form, knowing full well Jim couldn’t guarantee that kind of safety. “You scared the shit out of me, Jim. I just started remembering unzipping that damn body bag and seeing you there and...I--I can’t...you don’t get to die on me, kid.”

He didn’t even realize he was shaking until a warm set of fingers wrapped around his wrist, stilling him. “S’okay, Bones,” Jim croaked, peering up at him through bleary eyes, still bluer than anything McCoy had ever seen. “I’m okay.”

“Yeah, and what about next time you decide to go get yourself nearly killed by some alien lifeforms?” Leonard snapped. 

Jim just smiled serenely, his thumb stroking gently over the soft skin on the inside of the doctor’s wrist. “I’ll just come back to you. You said you’d always be here.” He let out a soft sigh and slipped back under, into a more natural sleep.

“Yeah, Jim,” McCoy agreed quietly, brushing a feather-light kiss over the kid’s forehead. “I’ll always be here.”


End file.
